Medical education in the United States has focused almost exclusively

Question

Medical education in the United States has focused almost exclusively on curative medicine, while preventive care has been given scant attention. This is misguided. Medical schools should invest as much time in teaching their students how to prevent illness as in teaching them how to cure it.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?

(A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines.

(B) In 1988, for every three cents the United States spent on prevention, it spent 97 cents on curative treatment.

(C) The number of students enrolled in medical school is the highest it has ever been.

(D) More people die each year from disease than from accidental causes.

(E) As the population grows, the number of doctors in certain specialties has not been keeping pace.

nitya34 · Accepted Answer

OE Says

"The conclusion is that medical schools are misguided. The basis for this claim is that they pay
little attention to preventive medicine. The argument would be made stronger by a statement
concerning the benefits of preventive medicine.

(A) CORRECT. Vaccines are a type of preventive medicine that have known benefits, i.e.,
preventing contagious diseases. 
(B) This statement supports the idea that the more time and money are spent on curative
medicine than on preventive medicine. However, it does not speak to the benefits of preventive
medicine."

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL SOLUTION

The conclusion is that medical schools are misguided. The basis for this claim is that they pay little attention to preventive medicine. The argument would be made stronger by a statement concerning the benefits of preventive medicine.

(A) CORRECT.  Vaccines are a type of preventive medicine that have known benefits, i.e., preventing contagious diseases.

(B) This statement supports the idea that the more time and money are spent on curative medicine than on preventive medicine.  However, it does not speak to the benefits of preventive medicine.

(C) The number of students enrolled in medical school has nothing to do with the benefits of preventive medicine.

(D) Accidental causes have nothing to do with the benefits of preventive medicine.

(E) The number of doctors in certain specialties has nothing to do with the benefits of preventative medicine.

icandy · Answer

Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines

Is a vaccine preventive care or curative care?

I guess I completely got it wrong on the first go. It is preventive because one has not yet contracted the disease. It is curative only when some has contracted it and it is then cured.

jeeteshsingh · Answer

Medical education in the United States has focused almost exclusively on curative medicine, while preventive care has been given scant attention. This is misguided. Medical schools should invest as much time in teaching their students how to prevent illness as in teaching them how to cure it.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?

(A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines.
 Correct - Vaccination is preventitive medicine and hence this statement shows the knowledge of same can be more beneficial then curing people once they are infected.

(B) In 1988, for every three cents the United States spent on prevention, it spent 97 cents on curative treatment.
 Irrelevant as the conclusion doesn't talk about any monetary factor

(C) The number of students enrolled in medical school is the highest it has ever been.
 No significance for the conclusion

(D) More people die each year from disease than from accidental causes.
 No help on preventive or curative medicine....

(E) As the population grows, the number of doctors in certain specialties has not been keeping pace.
 Irrelevant with respect to conclusion

ketanth · Answer

Medical education in the United States has focused almost exclusively on curative medicine, while preventive care has been given scant attention. This is misguided. Medical schools should invest as much time in teaching their students how to prevent illness as in teaching them how to cure it.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?

(A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines. Contender. Clear link with why preventive medicene study is equally important. 
(B) In 1988, for every three cents the United States spent on prevention, it spent 97 cents on curative treatment. Incorrect. We know that preventive medicene is not getting attention. Doesnt answer -"why preventive medicene study is equally important. "
(C) The number of students enrolled in medical school is the highest it has ever been. Incorrect. So what if its even lower or lowest. Doesnt answer -"why preventive medicene study is equally important. "
(D) More people die each year from disease than from accidental causes. Interesting. Incorrect. (was a contender initially but eleiminated in the final answer choice) But could these diseases have been prevented? We are not sure from this statement. 
(E) As the population grows, the number of doctors in certain specialties has not been keeping pace. Incorrect. Doesnt answer -"why preventive medicene study is equally important. "

AbdurRakib · Answer

Premise:   Medical education focused  a lot more on  medicine  than  preventive care

Conclusion:   Medical education Should Focus  as much  on medicine  as  on preventive care

Answer Choice (A) strengthened the argument.In answer choice (A) vaccines (preventive care) is effective to prevent many diseases, Strengthened the idea that preventive care is helpful or important.

Correct Answer (A)

anairamitch1804 · Answer

Question is :- Why medical schools invest good amount of time in teaching their students to prevent illness rather than teaching them how to cure it.

A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines. 
Correct: Vaccines are prevention not a cure. If many diseases can be prevented by vaccines then medical school should teach prevention as well. Make sense.

B) In 1988, for every three cents the United States spent on prevention, it spent 97 cents on curative treatment. 
Wrong: This talks about fundings. Out of the scope.

C) The number of students enrolled in medical school is the highest it has ever been. 
Wrong: Out of the scope. Author is not concerned about no of enrollments.

D) More people die each year from disease than from accidental causes. 
Wrong: This doesn't strengthen the argument.

E) As the population grows, the number of doctors in certain specialties has not been keeping pace. 
Wrong: Out of the scope.

Nash1989 · Answer

If you're stuck between A and B. Read this:

Conclusion: Focused almost exclusively on curative medicine while preventive care has been given scant attention. This is misguided.

Why?
Premise: Medical schools should invest as much time in teaching their students how to prevent illness as in teaching them how to cure it.

Question Stem:
Which of the following, if true,  most  strengthens   the argument above?

(B) In 1988, for every three cents the United States spent on prevention, it spent 97 cents on curative treatment

What year is it right now? Are we in 2050? That would mean the statement above describes a time over half a century ago. Also, what if in 1999 they spent 99 c on prevention and 1 c on curative treatment.

Think about it. Now a beautiful fact shines through below:

(A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines.

Just what I was looking for.

Why should I believe the conclusion? <Recap>
Conclusion: Focused almost exclusively on curative medicine while preventive care has been given scant attention. This is misguided.

Because: (A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines.

interesting. no timeline here. Just a plain simple fact.

Kudos if this helped. (my first answer on gmat club)
Ashish

ashisplb · Answer

PREMISE  : Medical education in the United States has focused almost exclusively on curative medicine, while preventive care has been given scant attention

CONCLUSION  : Medical schools should invest as much time in teaching their students how to prevent illness as in teaching them how to cure it

We have to strengthen the conclusion

(A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines. . IT is strenghening the conclusion .HENCE CORRECT .

(B) In 1988, for every three cents the United States spent on prevention, it spent 97 cents on curative treatment.

It is srengthening the premise .

(C) The number of students enrolled in medical school is the highest it has ever been.

Number of students is IRRELEVANT.

(D) More people die each year from disease than from accidental causes.

Accidental causes ae not our concern .IRRELEVANT .

(E) As the population grows, the number of doctors in certain specialties has not been keeping pace.

OUT OF SCOPE .

aggvipul · Answer

Option A clearly favours the argument, which is "Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines", nothing has been commented whether preventive includes giving medicine, in the first glance we tend to assume that only curative medicine deals with giving medicine and preventive does not(Trap)
Classic question, which compels us to mix our knowledge with this argument and produce incorrect results

dcummins · Answer

The argument is that focusing on curative, not preventative medicine is misguided.

This is supported by the suggestion that medical schools should invest as much time in teaching their students how to prevent diseases as in how to cure them.

What are we missing? Well what is the suggestion based off?

(A) Many contagious diseases can be prevented with vaccines.
Although "many" isnt exact - it could be 1% or 99% - it provides ANY support that prevention is better than cure, thus in teaching preventative measures, curative measures may not be required.

(B) In 1988, for every three cents the United States spent on prevention, it spent 97 cents on curative treatment.
This fact doesn't help link WHY prevention should be taught, it merely describes the situation.

(C) The number of students enrolled in medical school is the highest it has ever been.
It's really hard to see how this has any impact whatsoever on the argument.

(D) More people die each year from disease than from accidental causes.
It's really hard to see how this has any impact whatsoever on the argument.

(E) As the population grows, the number of doctors in certain specialties has not been keeping pace.
The number of specialised doctors is not conducive to the argument that preventative not curative treatment should be taught.

Akshayyjain · Answer

Can someone please correct me, why D can not be correct.

Accidents involve curing the person after suffering damage.

Disease is something that can be prevented, if doctors are aware of such methods. i.e. vaccines

People die more bcz of disease, hence more scope or at least similar scope to pursue 'Preventive care' as much as 'Curative' ?

vishalsinghvs08 · Answer

I marked E. I was confused between A and E. My understanding was that as the number of doctors reduce as the population increases, we will have less doctors to cure patients. So we have to start thinking about preventing those illness.

Am i not sure what the gap is in my reasoning? Please help. Thank you

Am i not sure what the gap is in my reasoning? Please help. Thank you

egmat · Answer

Your Logic Chain: 
Doctor shortage → Can't cure everyone → So let's prevent illness
This seems logical, BUT it requires an  assumption the argument doesn't give you : that prevention actually WORKS.

Here's the key insight: 
The conclusion says: "Schools should teach prevention."

To strengthen this, we need evidence that  prevention is worthwhile/effective .

Choice A  delivers exactly this: "Many diseases CAN BE PREVENTED with vaccines." This  proves prevention works  → so teaching it makes sense.

Choice E  only tells us there's a doctor shortage. It doesn't tell us that prevention would help, or that it even works.  You're filling in that gap yourself with outside reasoning.

Simple test:  Ask yourself, "Does this choice prove prevention is valuable?"
- A: Yes
- E: No

Answer: A

agrasan · Answer

Hi  egmat

(D) More people die each year from disease than from accidental causes.

Could you please explain how to eliminate (D)? 
 My reasoning to choose (D) was that it gives us a reason why focus should be given on preventive care. Am I wrong because I made an unwarranted  assumption  that  prevention can treat a disease ?

Please help me understand where exactly did I go wrong.

egmat · Answer

What does (D) actually say? 
(D) tells us: more people die from  disease  than from  accidental causes .

This compares  disease vs. accidents . But the argument isn't about disease vs. accidents - it's about  how to deal with disease : cure vs. prevention.

Your chain of thought was:
Disease kills more people → So we should prevent disease → So prevention deserves more focus ✗

The  hidden jump  is in that middle step. (D) says disease is a big killer, but that fact is  equally supportive  of curative medicine. Someone could just as easily argue: "Disease kills so many, we need  even better curative  training!"

(D) is completely neutral between cure and prevention. It doesn't favor one over the other. It just tells us disease matters, which the argument  already assumes  (that's why medical schools exist in the first place!).

Why (A) is correct: 
 (A) says: Many contagious diseases CAN be prevented with vaccines.

This directly shows that  prevention works  - there are concrete, teachable preventive methods that save lives. If diseases can actually be prevented, then it makes strong sense to teach future doctors how to do it.

(A) bridges the gap by proving that investing in preventive education would  yield real results .

The Rule to Remember: 
On Strengthen questions, the correct answer must specifically support the  conclusion's recommendation , not just the general topic. Ask yourself: "Does this favor the  specific course of action  the argument recommends, or could it equally support the opposite?"

(D) supports "disease is important" - which is the background, not the conclusion.
(A) supports "prevention is effective" - which directly backs the conclusion that prevention deserves equal teaching time.

Medical education in the United States has focused almost exclusively

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Medical education in the United States has focused almost exclusively

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